And you always thought Megatron and his Decepticons were the giant robots you had to worry about.

This February, Optimus Prime and the Autobots take control of our planet in a new arc starting in IDW Publishing's "Transformers" #50. Announced at New York Comic Con, "All Hail Optimus" shows what happens when Prime annexes Earth as part of Cybertron's Council of Worlds. But while it may sound sinister, writer John Barber insists that Prime's motivations are, as always, pure.

"[Prime] takes control of Earth to protect it from invasion," Barber tells Newsarama. "Meanwhile, Optimus has thousands of Cybertronian followers who view him as the 'True Prime' -- they see him as having a power above any elected office, above any 'normal' being -- and now Optimus is using the power they've handed to him. And he's using it for good -- at least as far as he sees it. Not everybody agrees with him."

"He sees it as his only option in preventing Earth from being consumed -- again, and this time with extreme consequences -- by the Cybertronians' war," Barber explains further. "He's believed in the past that keeping Earth out of picture was the best way to go about protecting the planet, but the events of recent issues have made him reconsider this."

"All Hail Prime" begins its reign in "Transformers" #50, on sale in February from John Barber, artist Andrew Griffith and IDW Publishing.